20 Ridiculous Things WCW Actually Did

20 Ridiculous Things WCW Did

WCW had a rich history of doing ridiculous and outrageous things. For good, bad or worse, the brand tried its best to hang on as the WWE passed them by and left them in the dust.

It's baffling to think that someone in charge actually thought that each of these were good ideas. Let's take a look at 20 ridiculous things WCW actually did.

20. Freebirds' Negative Title Reign

WWE Facebook

20. Freebirds' Negative Title Reign

WWE Facebook

The Freebirds laid claim to a title reign of negative six days, as they won the WCW tag team titles at WCW WrestleWar 1991 from Doom. Six days prior, The Freebirds were filmed defending and losing the titles to the Steiner Brothers.

WCW repeated this process four years later with the Nasty Boys getting a reign of negative 16 days.

19. The Yeti

WWE Facebook

19. The Yeti

WWE Facebook

Pro wrestling is often called the "Land of the Giants," and the 7-foot tall Ron Reis fits that description. So when the 25-year-old signed with WCW, he expected big things. Those big things likely didn't include looking like he was dry humping Hulk Hogan while wearing toilet paper.

When Reis debuted as The Yeti at Halloween Havoc 1995, that's exactly what happened, as he and The Giant performed a "double bearhug."

18. RoboCop

WWE Facebook

18. RoboCop

WWE Facebook

WWE had Rock N' Wrestling connection, WCW had the Cinema N' Canvas connection. You may not have heard of the latter because it didn't work in any way, shape or form.

Top babyface Sting found himself locked in a cage as the Four Horsemen looked on. To Sting's rescue was none other than RoboCop, just in time to promote RoboCop 2! Sid Vicious and Arn Anderson had to feign fear and likely hide their shame as RoboCop stood tall.

17. Meng Leaves As Hardcore Champion

WWE Facebook

17. Meng Leaves As Hardcore Champion

WWE Facebook

Meng was long revered for his reputation among pro wrestling's true tough guys. This served him well for a short while as he became WCW Hardcore champion during the company's dying days.

Immediately after winning the title, Meng's contract with WCW expired. Apparently nobody in the company cared or noticed because just days later, Meng appeared at WWE Royal Rumble under his Haku gimmick while still champion. WCW management at its finest.

16. Judy Bagwell, Tag Team Champion

WWE Facebook

16. Judy Bagwell, Tag Team Champion

WWE Facebook

Judy Bagwell probably isn't going to go into the annals of pro wrestling history alongside Mildred Burke, Fabulous Moolah or Mae Young as influential female wrestlers. Yet she's the only one to be a WCW champion.

During a feud with Buff Bagwell, tag team specialists Rick Steiner and Kenny Kaos became tag champs. Kaos was injured and Rick Steiner was left without a tag team partner. He selected Buff's 60-year-old mother, Judy Bagwell.

15. January 4, 1999 Nitro

WWE Facebook

15. January 4, 1999 Nitro

WWE Facebook

In the wake of Goldberg's streak ending, WCW looked to recapture the lead in the Monday Night Wars. Instead, the company insulted their fans by having a sham of a WCW title match that ended after a single finger poke from Hulk Hogan to Kevin Nash.

If that wasn't bad enough, WCW gave away the result of the WWF's taped title change airing at the same time. Hundreds of thousands of homes changed channels to witness Mick Foley become champion.

14. Oklahoma As Cruiserweight Champion

Wikimedia Commons

14. Oklahoma As Cruiserweight Champion

Wikimedia Commons

WCW did a lot to insult a loyal fanbase, and a true kick between the legs was Oklahoma winning the Cruiserweight title.

Creative writer Ed Ferrara was portraying a tasteless Jim Ross parody, complete with Bells Palsy imitation, and had become reviled among wrestlers and fans for it. WCW's downward spiral coincided, and it's not by chance.

Ferrara defeated Madusa to win the title. Thankfully he quickly vacated it, but the damage was done.

13. "Goldberg Doesn't Follow The Script"

WWE Facebook

13. "Goldberg Doesn't Follow The Script"

WWE Facebook

When Vince Russo came to WCW, worked shoot angles increased tenfold. This came to a head and crossed the line when WCW based an entire PPV angle on Goldberg not cooperating with Russo's writing.

The WCW Fall Brawl 2000 show was based around the notion that Goldberg and Scott Steiner were going to actually fight due to this. Not surprisingly, that didn't happen and fans were underwhelmed.

12. Letting The Future Of Wrestling Go

Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

12. Letting The Future Of Wrestling Go

Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

It was no secret that WCW favored previously established stars over young, up-and-coming wrestlers. This worked out for the company in the short term, as Hogan, Flair, Savage and others brought WCW to new heights.

As WCW went downhill, it was unwilling to change with the times and lost tons of frustrated talent. Over the course of a year Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Raven, Saturn, Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit all abandoned ship.

11. Halloween Havoc 1998

WWE Facebook

11. Halloween Havoc 1998

WWE Facebook

Halloween Havoc 1998 will go down in history as WCW's most poorly executed PPV ever. From the highly-anticipated Warrior/Hulk Hogan match ending up being an all-time clunker due to poor management all around, the night went down in infamy.

The night's main event also got cut off due to time constraints, as DDP carried Goldberg to his best match yet. WCW had to give thousands of refunds and the company lost a ton of money.

10. Chucky

WWE Facebook

10. Chucky

WWE Facebook

Halloween Havoc also has direct ties to famed horror movie icon Chucky, who provided one of the most groan-worthy moments in wrestling history.

A pre-recorded Chucky doll interrupted an in-ring promo interview between Gene Okerlund and Rick Steiner, in an effort to promote Bride of Chucky. Steiner and Okerlund were forced to respond to the taped promo in one of the lamest crossovers in wrestling history.

9. David Arquette As WCW Champion

WWE Facebook

9. David Arquette As WCW Champion

WWE Facebook

WCW sure loved its crossover opportunities, even at the opportunity of compromising the integrity of their own show. They pulled it off again while trying to promote the already bombing "Ready To Rumble" film.

The film's star David Arquette became an on-screen character in WCW and won the World Title despite his own backstage protests. The move was heavily criticized and is widely considered one of the biggest black eyes to pro wrestling.

8. Vince Russo as WCW Champion

WWE Universe

8. Vince Russo as WCW Champion

WWE Universe

Vince Russo has long been a controversial figure, credited with a major decline in both WCW and TNA due to his questionable ideas and writing. Few decisions created more of a stir than his WCW title win.

Russo should have never been an on-air character, and especially not a wrestler -- but he can always lay claim to being a world champion.

7. Vacation Party, Title Vacation Party

prowrestling.wikia.com

7. Vacation Party, Title Vacation Party

prowrestling.wikia.com

It's shouldn't be a surprise that a championship held by Vince Russo and David Arquette would turn into a giant gold hot potato.

From October 1999 until the Vince Russo situation in September 2000, the title was vacated eight times, with 20 title reigns happening in between. The importance of the title went down with the vacancies.

6. Sting In The Dog House

WWE Facebook

6. Sting In The Dog House

WWE Facebook

As WCW's franchise player, Sting was subjected to as many goofy situations as anyone involved in wrestling for decades would be.

During a match with Rick Steiner, Sting was ambushed backstage by Scott Steiner and a dog. The whole situation was horribly executed and obviously pre-recorded, and would live on in WCW infamy.

5. Advertising PPV Run-ins

WWE Universe

5. Advertising PPV Run-ins

WWE Universe

WCW SuperBrawl 2001 was the company's next to last pay-per-view ever, and if you saw the promotional trailer for the event, you'd understand why.

On a card that featured Scott Steiner vs. Ric Flair, Jeff Jarrett vs. DDP, plus familiar names like Rey Mysterio and Lex Luger, the company's advertisements said that fans should "expect a night of run-ins," something which had already alienated the audience for several years.

4. WCW Ad In USA Today

USA Today

4. WCW Ad In USA Today

USA Today

In 1999, WCW made an attempt to revamp their brand. Part of this was taking out a big ad in USA Today, a highly respected newspaper. It probably would have helped if the ad mentioned WCW.

The ad simply said "April 5, 8 P.M., TNT," followed by the phrase, "Looks like something a bird left on the hood of my car," presumably referring to the ad's silhouette of the new WCW logo. Okay, so maybe that was pretty descriptive of WCW at the time.

3. Mike Awesome's Gimmicks

WWE Universe

3. Mike Awesome's Gimmicks

WWE Universe

As WCW struggled to keep up with the WWE, the company snatched up all the talent they could. One of those talents was the monster ECW champion Mike Awesome.

After having Awesome debut by laying out megastar Kevin Nash, Awesome was turned into a fat chick-thrilling 70s character. After that destroyed him for American audiences, his career never recovered domestically.

2. Goldberg's Heel Turn

Getty Images

2. Goldberg's Heel Turn

Getty Images

During his heyday, Bill Goldberg was as popular as any wrestler during pro wrestling's peak. In true WCW form, the promotion decided to turn their biggest character heel.

In mid-2000, Goldberg joined the New Blood faction in a move that failed miserably. Goldberg spoke out about the decision, publicly disagreeing and saying he was never into it.

1. Kiss

WWE Universe

1. Kiss

WWE Universe

Should it be a shocker that WCW paid rock band Kiss $500,000 to lip sync for a few minutes live on Nitro?

That's exactly what happened, but it didn't end there. As part of the band's contract with WCW, a Kiss-themed wrestler, the Demon, was introduced as well. The whole situation was a miserable failure and Kiss' performance was among the lowest-rated segments in WCW that year.